Since losing the Super Bowl, Bill Belichick has seen his top two lieutenants, defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and Josh McDaniels, bolt for vacant NFL coaching positions in Detroit and Indianapolis. Another Patriot alum, former New England linebacker Mike Vrabel was introduced as Tennessee’s new head coach.

Even though NFL franchises are still eager to hire Belichick disciples in hopes of getting a small piece of the New England magic dust, the track record of Belichick assistants as NFL head coaches is less than impressive. Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, and Jim Schwartz all washed out in their HC gigs, and McDaniels was a bust in his first shot in Denver. Even college coaching G.O.A.T. Nick Saban bombed in his tenure with the Dolphins.

Today, Colin graded the most recent hires from the Belichick tree, and only sees McDaniels in his second opportunity in Indianapolis with Andrew Luck already in place as a likely home run (A-).

UPDATE: Josh McDaniels screwed the Colts over and is remaining in New England as the heir apparent to Bill Belichick. So we’ll give this a ‘Withdrew’.

He thinks Mike Vrabel has a chance to succeed with the Titans if he can hire competent offensive assistants (B-).

Colin sees Detroit’s hire of Matt Patricia as the most likely of the three to fail because he’s never worked outside the rigid structure of New England, and feels more like an assistant than a head coach (C-). Having to face Aaron Rodgers twice a year in the division is another negative.

“Proximity to greatness doesn’t equal greatness.”

Watch Colin break down the hires and hand out grades for the latest branches of the Belichick coaching tree.